A 13-year-old boy from Westbury who was taken to hospital by Wiltshire Air Ambulance after he fell out of a tree has thanked the crew for their efforts.

Brandon Thompson and his mum Tracy visited the Air Ambulance base in Devizes last month to present the life-saving charity with £300, donated by John Lewis Partnership, where his dad works.

He broke his arm just below his shoulder after falling 10 feet from a tree at home in Westbury Leigh on July 1 last year, and was flown to the Royal United Hospital in Bath for treatment.

Dad Darren said: “They were terrific, it took them about four minutes to get him from Westbury to the hospital and they were very professional.

“Brandon had been climbing a tree in our front garden, he got about 10 feet up when the branch snapped.

“It was a dangerous tree, it has been cut down since. He’s not much of a tree climber, he was just messing around really.”

Brandon suffered a severe break which worried the paramedics who attended, but their main concern was that he had injured his back, so the decision was taken to air-lift him.

His mum, who flew to the hospital with him, said: “I was so pleased with way the crew handled everything, the communication between the paramedics on the ground and the crew was fantastic. The aircrew were so reassuring.”

To thank the crew for their work Mr Thompson, an operations manager at John Lewis in Avonmouth, asked his firm’s charity committee to make a donation.

“The Air Ambulance does fantastic work and it is all funded through donations,” he said.

“It was a good way to say thank you.”

Brandon, who has been staying away from tree climbing since his accident, added: “It was really good to meet Richard Miller, the paramedic who rescued me, and to be able to say thank you.”